mudcat.org: Origins: All Around My Hat ALL AROUND MY HAT From: pavane Date: 09 Aug 01 - 04:56 AM In browsing the Bodleian Ballad library, I have noticed that the only version of 'All around my Hat' was apparently a Cockney parody All around my hat, I vears a green villow I was interested to see that the tune was given as The (poor) fisherman's boy. Searching for that, I found two songs, The Poor Fisherman's Boy and The Poor Fisherman's Girl, both of which could be fitted to the tune that I know (as done by Steeleye Span). Does anyone know of a link between the two songs, which don't really seem to have much else in common? Date: 09 Aug 01 - 05:33 AM Pavane It's very common for a broadside to use the song of an old song for a newer one (saves the buyer having to learn the tune from the street singer or make one up). See, for example, the earliest broadside versions Black Velvet Band where the tune is given as "Tars of The Blanch".

I think that the simple answer to your question about the relationship between the two songs is that they were to the same tune. Period. If you're interested in looking at the wider issues associated with the origins of this song, there are quite a few earlier threads. However, I don't recall the Green Willow version as being at all popular until Steeleye recorded it. The version I used to know was an older version of this one In Her Hair She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and it might be worth looking for it under that name or a similar one. Cheers! From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 09 Aug 01 - 02:08 PM Though interesting and important, the broadside collection at the Bodleian is not the fount of all knowledge, and you will have to look further afield if you want to get anywhere with this kind of exercise. Beware of becoming too carried away by any one particular resource! It has been considered that All Around My Hat was a derivative of The Nobleman's Wedding, from which it may indeed have borrowed a verse and a form of its melody; alternatively, the borrowing may have been in the opposite direction.

There are relevant references in numbers 31 and 34 of the Journal of the Folk Song Society (1927 and 1930) which I'll look up tomorrow if I have time. Peter Kennedy and others, however, would consider it to be a quite separate song. The set given in Sabine Baring Gould and H. Fleetwood Sheppard's A Garland of Country Song (1895) is from Fleetwood Sheppard himself; he noted: "This song is given from my own recollection of it sixty years ago, when it was more than popular; it was the delight -the ecstasy of the London street-boy. I doubt if it ever penetrated far into the country, its vulgarity was too essentially metropolitan. The hero was a costermonger, his fair love was a pick-pocket, transported for theft. I have modified two or three of the original verses. There was no real humour in them, and the London dialect of that day is a thing of the past. It was the charming air which gave popularity to the song. Chappell supplies the original form, and says it is a Somersetshire tune.

No doubt he is right, but he has no name for it other than The original of All Around My Hat. I think there is no doubt it was a dance-tune, but the first strain is omitted from the song." The tune given by Fleetwood Sheppard is the familiar one. In his notes to the set given in Folk Songs of Britain and Ireland (recorded from Harry Westaway of Belstone in Devonshire, 1951, again a variant of the familiar tune), Peter Kennedy refers to some other versions in print, and again mentions the tune given by Chappell. Fleetwood Sheppard's reference was to Chappell's Collection of National Airs (1838-40), which I haven't seen; Kennedy however states that it re-appeared in Chappell's Ballad Literature and Popular Music of the Olden Time (1859), as The Budgeon is a Delicate Trade (1725). Chappell also mentions the tune as having also been used for The Miller of Dee and a number of traditional harvest home songs; the reference to All Around My Hat is not, however, repeated, nor is the reference to Somerset.

The DT file THE MILLER OF DEE (Jolly Miller) , taken from Chappell, also points out that the tune was later used for Rolling Down to Old Maui (I suspect I've also heard it used for Edmund in the Lowlands). This is a rather different, minor melody from that given by Sheppard and Kennedy; Chappell however states that the harvest-supper tune was in the major, and particularly cites the set printed in the Rev. John Broadwood and G.A. Dusart's Old English Songs, which may perhaps be closer to the Hat melody. In an earlier thread, The Nobleman's Wedding , Bruce Olson postulated a link between The Willow Green and The Nobleman's Wedding. Whether there is any direct link between it and All Around My Hat is another matter, of course. People have been wearing green willows, and doing things for a year and a day, for rather a long time, and what may at first sight appear to indicate a connection may just as easily be no more than a coincidence, particularly where the expression seems to be a commonplace of long standing.

From: Mr Red Date: 09 Aug 01 - 02:18 PM I came across a reference to "Green Ribbon". It was in the context of Irish Political songs but given the scenario it would have to be a derived version of a well known song. I too first heard the cockney version, Charles Chiltern is credited with the costermonger version in his book of songs penned originally for a BBC radio series in the 50's. Peter Dawson (opera singer c 30's) sang it but I asssume he was singing an earlier version than the Chiltern arrangement. The chorus is just similar enough to ensure you can't get away with it when the audience only know the Steeleye Span version. From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 10 Aug 01 - 09:35 PM Strictly speaking, the "cockney parody", so called, is the original All Around My Hat. There is no record of any earlier song of that title, or containing those verses. Of course, there are related antecedents.

To continue: Further enquiry reveals that the tune in Popular Music of the Olden Time referred to by Kennedy as Chappell's "original" tune for All Around My Hat is in fact nothing of the kind. My paragraph above concerning The Miller of Dee, therefore, is completely irrelevant to this discussion. Whence the error in Kennedy I have no idea, but the tune Chappell gave in his earlier collection (as Number 90 in National English Airs) is completely different, and unmistakably a variant of the well-known Hat tune. Chappell's tune was given by Anne Gilchrist in a note to So Selfish Runs the Hare, a song collected by Cecil Sharp from Mr. Jos. Alcock of Sibford Gower, Warwickshire, in 1922 (Journal of the Folk Song Society, Volume 8, issue 31, 1927), which was sung to another variant of the melody. Mr. Alcock's text and tune are in the DT: So Selfish Runs the Hare , though no source is named. Ms. Gilchrist also pointed out that Dashing Away With the Smoothing Iron and The Poor Little Fisher Boy are also sung to variants of the same tune.

The Journal of the Folk Song Society, no. 34, 1930, has a set of The Nobleman's Wedding noted by H.E.D. Hammond from Mrs. Crawford of West Milton, which includes the All Around My Hat verse and is sung to another variant of the same tune. A. Martin Freeman commented: "...the occurrence of the All Round My Hat verse in connection with this tune, which belongs to the same group as the five Nobleman's Wedding tunes in the Complete Petrie Collection, all apparantly variants of the same original, opens up a new and interesting question. Have we here the lost original of the serio-comic All Round My Hat of the 1830s? ... In the text of All Round My Hat given in Baring Gould's Garland of Country Song, all that is not new belongs to the comic song, so that the source of the one presumably old verse is still unknown. But compare the line If anyone should ask me the reason why I wear it [i.e. the willow round his hat] with verses 3 and 4 in Mr.

Sharp's Appalachian version of The Nobleman's Wedding (The Awful Wedding): If anyone should ask the reason Why I put on my strange attire, I'm crossed in love, that is the reason, I've lost my only heart's delight. [?desire] But I'll put on my strange attire, And I will wear it for a week or two, * * * * Till I change my old love for the new. These verses are part of the song the old lover sang to the bride, and are followed by the half-verse: But how can you lie with your head on another man's pillow When you have proved your love so late to me? -which should probably be followed, as in Mr. Hammond's verse 3: Now for your sweet sake I'll wear a mournful willow Now and forever I'll wear it [? for thee.] The question arises- was a willow-wreathed hat the strange attire, and was the All Round My Hat verse -or something like it- the opening verse of the lover's song in certain versions of The Nobleman's Wedding? Here, Mr.

Freeman goes into detail which need not concern us, and resumes: As to the comic song of the 'thirties... the All Round My Hat verse is merely the chorus of a song sung in the character of a costermonger whose love is far, far away -for the sufficient reason that a cruel judge had sentenced her to seven years' transportation for thieving- the forlorn coster interpolating his ditty at the end of every two lines by crying his vegetable wares. So the solitary verse is apparantly the sole relic of an earlier song, seized upon, together with its engaging tune, to provide sport in the music-halls and be whistled by every errand-boy, for it became one of the most popular of street-songs a hundred years ago." At this point, Mr. Freeman ends by discussing other tune variants, including an untitled tune, no. 119 in Petrie, which is another close relative. The above is of course largely speculation, though based on what appears to be very reasonable evidence.

It remains to say that the borrowing of tune and verse may perfectly well have been in the opposite direction (more recent authorities might seem to take that view), but here, at least, is food for thought. Date: 23 Oct 02 - 11:43 AM Malcolm (especially) I was "always" familiar with this song but never sang it. The Steeleye version was so strong, it drove all previous memory out of my head and the original never returned. (Actually, it doesn't take all that much to do so.) Good as the Steeleye version is, it was never satisfied with the (amalgamated) text. 1) What was the text I "always" had in mind. This would have been one familiar to Cambridge and/or G. Village folkies in the late 50's. 2) What is the "cockney parody" (if you still believe that to be the earliest recorded)? Would that be essentially ALL AROUND MY HAT (I will wear the Green Willow) ? 3) What, if any, old-but-complete & evolved" text is given in Chappell?

(Or other early, evolved text.) 4) Is the Chappell tune essentially the same as the well-known one? Seems silly I can't answer these myself but there you are! Date: 23 Oct 02 - 09:41 PM Abby: As you know, All Around my Hat as recorded by Steeleye Span was a collation; the tune and first verse came from AAMH, but the rest of the song was lifted from an unrelated piece, Farewell He; probably from versions collected in Hampshire and Dorset in the early years of the 20th century by Dr. Gardiner and the Hammond brothers (I expect I could find chapter and verse if needed). The other set in the DT, All Around my Hat (I will wear the Green Willow) , although it says "recorded by Steeleye Span", is completely different. No source is acknowledged, but it's actually the set recorded by Peter Kennedy from Harry Westaway at Belstone, Devon, in 1951, and published in Kennedy's Folksongs of Britain and Ireland. I'm afraid that I'm too young to know what was being sung round Cambridge in the late '50s!

The parody of the early 19th century can be seen at the Bodleian: All around my hat I wear a green willow Printed by E. Keys, 7, James-street, Devonport. Firth b.27(536) All around my hat I'll wear the green willow Printed between 1819 and 1844 by J. Pitts, 6, Great St. Andrew Street, Seven Dials [London]. Harding B 11(38) If you remove the "cockney" patter and the vegetables, you wind up with something very close to Harry Westaway's set. Whether his descends from the stage song (with the extraneous material removed) or from its (putative) immediate predecessor, I can't say at the moment. I imagine that it could go either way. I don't think that Chappell quoted a text at all, though as I said I haven't seen his earlier book. Kennedy's reference to The Budgen is a Delicate Trade is, I'm convinced, a mistake.

The tune Chappell quoted as "the original of All Around My Hat" (as reprinted in JFSS) is indeed essentially the same as the tune we are familiar with. I didn't have access to the Roud Index last time this thread came around. I see, though, that he classes The Nobleman's Wedding and All Around My Hat under the same heading (Roud 367, Laws P31); which makes sense. There would be a "missing link", presumably, between the former and the latter. Maybe that's something on the lines of the Westaway set; or maybe his was a descendant of the latter with the veggies and the chat dropped (not unprecedented, after all); I really don't know. Date: 24 Oct 02 - 10:20 AM ALL ROUND MY HAT All round my hat I vears a green villow, All round my hat for a twelvemonth and a day, If any one should ax't the reason vy I vears it, Tell them that my true love is far, far away. 'Twas a going of my rounds in the streets I first did meet her. Oh!

I thought she vas a hangel just come down from the sky. (Spoken.) She'd a nice wegitable countenance; Turnup nose, Redish cheeks, and Carrotty hair. And I never heard a voice more louder and more sweeter, Vhen she cried buy my Primroses, my Primroses come buy! All round my hat, &c. Oh! my love she vos fair, and my love she vos kind, too, And cruel vos the cruel judge vot had my love to try! For thieving vos a thing she never vos inclined to, But he sent my love across the seas far away! All round my hat, &c. For seven long years my love and I am parted, For seven long years my love is bound to stay. Bad luck to that chap vot'd ever be false hearted, Oh! I'll love my love for ever, though she's far, far away! All round my hat, &c.

There is some young men is so preciously deceitful, A coaxing of the young gals they vish to lead astray; As soon as they deceive 'em so cruelly they leave 'em, And they never sigh nor sorrows vhen they're far, far away! All round my hat, &c. Oh! I bought my love a ring on the very day she started, Vich I gove her as a token all to remember me; And vhen she does come back, oh! ve'll never more be parted, But ve'll marry and be happy, oh, for ever and a day. All round my hat, &c. From: Andrews', Printer, 38 Chatham St., N. Y., Dealer in Songs, Games, Toy Books, Motto Verses, &c., Wholesale and Retail. American Memory Collection From: Abby Sale Date: 24 Oct 02 - 09:57 PM Thanks, guys. The one I knew was probably ALL AROUND MY HAT (I will wear the Green Willow) or near enough. Seems to be a very stable text. Tunes don't vary much either.

I have one from Creighton in Maritime Folk Song (1962) that's also much the same. Thanks for the Cockney sets. I've never seen that before. There's a nice photy of the veggie seller at the Levy song sheets. Printed in NY with a reputed writer and composer but undated. Levy collection, sample 2 (The words are on the other example - a bit more spoken parts than the Am Memory set.) Maybe I'll finally learn it. From: Nerd Date: 25 Oct 02 - 12:34 PM I always thought the Steeleye version was weird because of the manner of collation; in the chorus the narrator promises to be faithful to her lover, and in the verses she vows to dump him. Maddy had no good explanation for this when I interviewed her about it a few years back! The patriotic "ribbon" versions of this song exist in several forms. One of them features a "tri-coloured ribbon." I once heard a French woman sing the song, attracted by the tricolour reference. Unfortunately she pronounced it as "a tree-coloured rye bun" which was more laughable than anything else...

From: pastorpest Date: 25 Oct 02 - 11:40 PM I always liked one of the Creighton melodies for "All Around My Hat." But the lyrics made no sense to me. Andrew Gant in his 1997 compilation "Folk Songs of the British Isles" suggests the original flavour of the song is a lament by a female pickpocket for her lover transported to Australia for theft. Could it be that the song contrasts the faithfulness of two street people in London to the faithlessness of that powerful empire for its own poor? When I sing it I use the lyrics in Gant's book and the melody from Creighton and hear it as a lament. There is lots of choice with this song: the variations in lyrics and melody seem almost endless. From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy Date: 12 Nov 02 - 12:57 PM Sean O'Casey's version as sung on 'The Green Crow Caws', Paul Brady/James(or John?) Kavanagh release.

It was originally printed in his 6th volume of autobiography, 'Sunset & Evening Star' 1954 ALL ROUND ME HAT All round me hat I wear a band of green ribbon O, Careless of what any lofty mind may say; If anyone should ask me why, I'll tell them Eire wove it All round me hat, an' there it's destin'd for to stay. All that she is or was is woven in that ribbon O, Her chieftains lyin' low in cloister'd Clonmacnoise today; Th' bugle-call of Finn that shook the mountain high, the valley low, Cuchullian's chariot-rush that took th' foemen's breath away. All that her saints have done, her sinners' gay mortality, Th' time they stood undaunted up, th' time they slipp'd an' fell; Th' beauty of the oldher books an' all th' songs her poets sung, Are woven in the ribbon green, an' woven fair an' well.

All th' Ulsther chiefs defendin' Eire from the Norman Law; Tone tossin' on the sea, an' damnin' all its din; Emmet takin' Ireland's hope down with him to a grave unknown, When people had no peace without or gleam of hope within. Th' rout of priests who ordhered Irish souls away to hell, Who saw a Chieftain sent from God in Charles Stewart Parnell; Larkins' apostolic voice that rang the workers out of sleep, An' made undaunted fighters from a flock of baain' sheep. An' them comin' lather when daffodils danc'd in th' sun, When many were th' whispers that poor Ireland's days were done; When Pearse an' all his comrades beat a roll upon an Irish drum, A roll that's beatin' still to bring a rally yet to come.

So all round me hat, I wear a band of green ribbon O, Zone of our faults, our fights, our love an' laghter gay; All that Eire is or was is woven in that ribbon O, An' there it stops till life is dead an' time has ebb'd away. From: DADGBE Date: 12 Nov 02 - 02:15 PM Here's a song learned around 1960 during my miscreant teen years. Seems like it just might be a parody. Around her hat she wore a yellow ribbon, She wore it in the spring time and in the month of May, And if you asked her why the hell she wore it, She wore it for the soldier who was far, far away. Far away, far away, She wore it for the soldier who was far, far away. Around the block she wheeled a baby carriage, She wheeled it in the spring time and in the month of May. And if you asked her why the hell she wheeled it, She wheeled it for the soldier who was far, far away. Far away, far away, She wheeled it for the soldier who was far far away.

Behind the door her father kept a shotgun, He kept it in the spring time and in the month of May, And if you asked him why the hell he kept it, He kept it for the soldier who was far, far away. Far away, far away, From: Nigel Parsons Date: 13 Nov 02 - 07:14 AM All attempts at showing earlier versions of this seem to ignore one of our (Britain's) better writers. In Othello, Desdemona sings about the wearing of the green willow. "Green willow must be my garland". ___________________________________________ DESDEMONA: My mother had a maid call'd Barbary; She was in love, and he she loved proved mad And did forsake her. She had a song of "willow"; An old thing 'twas, but it express'd her fortune, And she died singing it. That song tonight Will not go from my mind; I have much to do But to go hang my head all at one side And sing it like poor Barbary. Prithee, dispatch. EMILIA: Shall I go fetch your nightgown? DESDEMONA: No, unpin me here.

This Lodovico is a proper man. EMILIA: A very handsome man. DESDEMONA: He speaks well. EMILIA: I know a lady in Venice would have walked barefoot to Palestine for a touch of his nether lip. DESDEMONA [Sings.]: "The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree, Sing all a green willow; Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee, Sing willow, willow, willow. The fresh streams ran by her, and murmur'd her moans, Sing willow, willow, willow; Her salt tears fell from her, and soften'd the stones--" Lay by these-- [Sings.] "Sing willow, willow, willow--" Prithee, hie thee; he'll come anon-- [Sings.] "Sing all a green willow must be my garland. Let nobody blame him; his scorn I approve--" Nay, that's not next. Hark, who is't that knocks? EMILIA: It's the wind. "I call'd my love false love; but what said he then? Sing willow, willow, willow.

If I court moe women, you'll couch with moe men--" ______________________________________________ This seems also to be a fore-runner of Gilbert & Sullivan, "On a tree by a river a little tom tit Sang "Willow, tit willow, tit willow"" Nigel Date: 13 Nov 02 - 07:37 AM A quick check of the DT doesn't turn up "Tit Willow", so I'm posting it now.

_____________________________________________- (W S Gilbert & A Sullivan) On a tree by a river a little tom-tit Sang "Willow, titwillow, titwillow!" And I said to him, "Dicky-bird, why do you sit Singing 'Willow, titwillow, titwillow'?" "Is it weakness of intellect, birdie?" I cried, "Or a rather tough worm in your little inside?" With a shake of his poor little head, he replied, "Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!" He slapped at his chest, as he sat on that bough, Singing "Willow, titwillow, titwillow!" And a cold perspiration bespangled his brow, Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!

He sobbed and he sighed, and a gurgle he gave, Then he plunged himself into the billowy wave, And an echo arose from the suicide's grave-- "Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!" Now I feel just as sure as I'm sure that my name Isn't Willow, titwillow, titwillow, That 'twas blighted affection that made him exclaim "Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!" And if you remain callous and obdurate, I Shall perish as he did, and you will know why, Though I probably shall not exclaim as I die, "Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!" Notes: From "The Mikado" sung by Ko-Ko to Katisha. There are similarities here to the song sung by Desdemona in Othello Act IV Scene III, which also appears to be an early variant of "All Around My Hat", in that it mentions the wearing of a green willow garland. NP From: Declan Date: 18 Dec 02 - 08:59 AM There were some references to this song on an earlier thread.

I found these words in a songbook called Amhranleabhar Ogra Eireann, first published in Dublin in 1950 by Ogra Eireann, an organisation set up by the Irish Christian Brothers to promote the Irish language and culture in general (and republican politics, if the words of the songs in this book are anything to judge by) among their pupils. These words are from the 5th edition Pub. 1964. The lyrics are credited to Peadar O Cearnaigh or Peadar Kearney who was an uncle of the Behan family (Brendan, Dominic et al) who also wrote other songs with a republican theme including the Soldiers Song (the irish national anthem) and Down By Anna Liffey. There is no reference to the tune other than that the music is available from Waltons (A well known Dublin music shop and publisher), but having heard it sung its a close relation to the air sung by Maddy Prior and Co although sung much more slowly. I have no date for when the song was written except the reference to Easter Monday seems to suggest it was later than 1916.

THE THREE COLOURED RIBBON (Lyrics by Peadar O Cearnaigh) I had a true love if ever a girl had one, I had a true love a brave lad was he, And one fine Easter Monday, with his gallant comrades. He started away for to make Ireland Free. Chorus All round my hat I wear a three coloured ribbon.* All round my hat until death comes to me, And if anybody's asking why I'm wearing that ribbon It's all for my true love I Near more shall see. His bandolier round him, his bright bayonet shining. His short service rifle a beauty to see, There was joy in his eyes, though he left me repining, And started away for to make Ireland free. In praying and watching the dark days past over. The roar of the guns brought no message to me; I prayed for old Ireland, I prayed for my lover. That he might be safe and old Ireland be free. The struggle was ended, they brought me the story. The last whispered message he sent unto me: "I was true to my land, love; I fought for her glory, And gave up my life for to make Ireland Free.

*These are he words as published but I've only ever heard it sung as "All around my hat I wear a tri-coloured Ribbon-O All around my hat until death comes to me. And if anybody asks me just why I do wear it, It's all for my true love I ne'er more will see." which fits in better with the air I know although Kearney may have had a slightly different air in mind ? Thread #56061 Message #874472 From: nutty Date: 02 Feb 05 - 04:37 PM As a matter of interest I've just come across another version of ALL AROUND MY HAT which I feel should be added to the rest. Written by Katharine Tynan (1861-1931) and published in 'Irish Poems' in 1913 by Sidgwick and Jackson Ltd of London. I'm not sure where it might fit in the grand scheme of things but I feel that it warrents inclusion.

THE GREEN RIBBON All aound my hat I will wear the green ribbon,O All round my hat for a year and a day And if anyone asks me why I do wear it I'll say that my true love is far, far away For green is the colour of the weeping willow,O And green is the colour for her that is true Tell my love if he come not I die of my sorrow,O And shall sleep deep forgetting the pangs that I knew I shall say,"My sweet mother, make my bride-clothes ready,O" I shall say, "Little sister, weep not for me But clothe me in silver like a beauteous lady,O And hide not my face lest he come and see." Six gentle knights to the grave will carry me The maids shall strew violets my face above They will say "She was constant" and weep as they bury me Saying "Here is a true maid who died for love" O what have I to do with life and with living,O If he should come not I shall not know I shall sleep on so sweetly, done with care ad grieving,O Alone in my bride-bed the moulds below List, ye grave pilgrims, who journey to Walsingham

 Say if you meet him that his love lies sick- Sore sick of loving and will soon be dying,O If he would save her that he travel quick All around my hat now I wear the green ribbon,O So have I worn it a year and above Say if he come not he will find me sleeping,O With a stone at my head that I died for love.

From: Tradsinger Date: 02 Feb 05 - 06:14 PM At school we used to sing "Around her leg she wore a yellow garter" which I believe was a WWII version about an airman. I first heard "All around my hat" as a song in 3/4 time,before Steeleye Span recorded it so I guess Steeleye took the tune and arranged it to 4/4. They also took the words of a completely different song "Fair thee well, cold winter" to put to the tune, so theirs is a hybrid version. Not the best thing they have done, but the most remembered and requested (after Guadete). From: nutty Date: 08 Aug 06 - 09:14 AM While browsing on the Bodleian Library site, I found this more complete version of ALL AROUND MY HAT. I've taken the cockney bits out (which make it seem like a parody) and am impressed by the song that's left.

ALL AROUND MY HAT CHORUS: All around my hat, I will wear the green willow, All around my hat, for a twelvemonth and a day; And if anyone should ask it the reason why I wears it, Tell them that my true love is far, far away. 'Twas going on my rounds in the streets I did first meet her. I thought she was an angel just come down from the sky. I never heard a voice more louder and more sweeter, When she cried, "Buy my primroses, my primroses come and buy." My love she was fair and my love she was kind, too, And cruel was the judge that had my love to try, For thieving was a thing that she never was inclined to, But he sent my love across the seas so far, far away. For seven long years, my love and I are parted. For seven long years, my love is bound to stay. Bad luck to the chap that would ever be false hearted! I'll love my love for ever though she's far, far away. There are some young men so preciously deceitful, A-coaxing of the young girls they wish to lead astray.

As soon as they deceive them, so cruelly they leave them, And they never sigh or sorrow when they're far, far away. I bought my love a ring on the very day she started, Which I gave her as a token all to remember me; And when she does come back, we'll never more be parted, But marry and be happy, for ever and a day. Printers: Keys, E. (Devonport); Stone, R. (Exeter) Date: [s.a.] Imprint: Printed and sold ... by E. Keys, 7, James-street, Devonport. Sold also by R. Stone, 10, on the New Bridge, Exeter Illus. Ballads on sheet: 2 Copies: Firth b.27(536) Ballads: 1.

All around my hat I wear a green willow ("All round my hat I vear a green villow ...") To the tune of: The fisherman's boy Subject: Street traders From: GUEST,Shimrod Date: 26 Aug 08 - 03:43 PM I first learned 'All Around My Hat' from a Peter Bellamy record: 'Fair England's Shore', XTRA 1075, 1968. I'm guessing, but I assume that this pre-dates the Steeleye span version by several years. I recall that the Steeleye Span version came as no surprise to me (very similar tune and words) and I always assumed that they had learned it from Mr B. Bellamy's sleeve notes don't add much to the discussion, but for the record they are quoted below: " All Around my Hat: I have known for so long that I have forgotten where I originally acquired it. I found several versions in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library at Cecil Sharp House, many of which had a very long and confusing story line.

I decided to stick with this clear and simple form." It's years since I played the record (not sure if my record deck still works!) and the song is long lost from my repertoire (probably just as well - I wouldn't want anyone thinking that I had learned a song from Steeleye Span!). Date: 24 Feb 09 - 08:01 AM See posting earlier in this thread: "Strictly speaking, the "cockney parody", so called, is the original All Around My Hat. There is no record of any earlier song of that title, or containing those verses. Of course, there are related antecedents. " and "Ansell and Valentine's costermonger song 'All Around My Hat' (c.1834) wasn't made from whole cloth, of course. It was a parody of 'Green Willow' " As printed c1840: All round my hat I vears a green villow, All round my hat for a twelvemonth and a day, If any one should ax't the reason vy I vears it, Tell them that my true love is far, far away.

Therefore origins are LONDON (which wasn't in Ireland last time I looked) We had someone writing a letter to the Times yesterday to say it was Irish, "correcting" a previous letter which must have said it was English. Date: 01 Oct 10 - 07:42 AM I can see a snippet from a book which says "1830's under the title "All Around My Hat." The lyric was in dialect and the song bore the inscription "written by J. Ansell . . . composed and arranged by John Valentine ... as sung by Jack Reeve with the most unbounded applause" P 383 of The American song treasury: 100 favorites Author Theodore Raph Publisher Courier Dover Publications, 1986 Also: L.C. information bulletin (Library of congress) Vol 50, 1991, p 78 The original, "written by J.

Ansell, Esq." (John Hansell) and "composed and arranged by John Valentine," "as sung by Jack Reeve, with the most Unbounded Applause," pictures an English vegetable peddler, with an overloaded little donkey, and another which claims to have the original sheet music. From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 01 Oct 10 - 02:28 PM The Bodleian copy printed by Pitts is given the approx. date range of 1819-1844 (Harding BH11(38)). This was posted early in this thread. Jack Reeve, comic singer, also performed Billy Barlow, c. 1836. Thread 62999, Lyr. Add: Billy Barlow. I can't find a John Valentine, composer, in early 19th C., but an earlier John Valentine, perhaps antecedent, is discussed in Karl Kroeger, 1988, John Valentine: Eighteenth-Century Music Master in the English Midlands, Notes, 2nd Ser., vol. 44, no. 3 (Mar. 1988), pp.

444-455. Other members of the family, I believe, are discussed. I don't have access to that journal. From: Brian Peters Date: 06 May 11 - 07:14 AM I've been doing a little more digging about this song, and thought it might be worth trying to co-ordinate other threads that are relevant to this one. I've long been convinced that 'All Around my Hat' and the folk revival favourite 'Twas on one April Morning' are closely linked, on account of the similarity in the tunes and the verse complaining about deceitful young men. However, it seems that others got there before me. Malcolm Douglas on this thread (23 Aug 08 - 09:54 PM) referred to the broadside 'Green Willow' as a precursor of the cockney costermonger's 'All Around my Hat', and Artful Codger has already posted that text on the 'April Morning' thread.

It will do no harm to repost it on this one: [Begin quote] Subject: Lyr Add: Green Willow From: Artful Codger - PM Date: 26 Sep 09 - 04:13 PM In an attempt at consolidation, I'm reposting here the text of the broadside "Green Willow", which I first posted in another thread: [...] The Bodley copies of this broadside contain clear relatives of all of the "April Morning" stanzas except the first. You can draw your own conclusions. Bodley Ballads: Harding B 11(1432) [between 1813 and 1838] Published by J. Catnach, 2, Monmouth-court 7 Dials Also Harding B 11(1433) [1819-1844] with differences shown in brackets. Published by Pitts, 6, Gt. St. Andrew Street, Seven Dials The Green Willow.

Young men are false and they are so deceitful, Young men are false and they seldom will prove true, For rangling and jangling their minds are always changing, They're always see[k]ing for some pretty young girl that is true. It's all round my hat I will wear a green willow, It's all round my hat for a twelvemonth and a day, If any one should ask you the reason why I wear it, O tell them I have been slighted by my own true love. You false hearted young men you know you have deceived me, You false hearted young men you caused me to rue, For love it does grow older & seldom does grow bolder, All fades away like the sweet morning dew. O that I had but my own heart to keep it, O that I had but my own heart again, Closely in my bosom I would lock it up for ever; [O] Never would I ramble so far far again. For many a long hour have I spent courting, For many a long hour have I spent in vain, But since 'tis my misfortune that I must die a maiden, O never would I ramble so far far again.

The fragment mentioned earlier (consisting of the first two verses above) was printed in The History of Signboards from the Earliest Times to the Present Day (1908) by Jacob Larwood, L.R. Sadler, John Camden Hotten, on page 247. It was quoted a passage discussing the use of the willow as a symbol of sadness and forsaken love. The writer(s) had heard it sung by an old Northumberland woman, but had never seen it in print. He/they also wrote (possibly quoting Douce at this point): '[...] the Agnus castus or vitex was supposed by the ancients to promote chastity, "and the willow being of a much like nature," says an old writer, "it is yet a custom that he which is deprived of his love must wear a willow garland."ï¿½Swan's Speculum Mundi, ch. vi, sec. 4. 1635.' Other threads here have discussed the relationship (by parody?) between "The Green Willow" and the later "All Around My Hat".

[End quote] What you have above, then, is pretty much the song we know as 'April Morning' with the 'Hat' chorus as its second verse. Now look at what George Butterworth collected under the title 'All Around my Hat' from Edmund Knight of Washington, Sussex, in 1907 (courtesy of the EFDSS Take 6 archive): Lyrics It's a version of the familiar 'Hat' tune (albeit with an interesting F natural that takes it into Mixolydian territory), with a set of verses that resemble very closely this broadside from the Bodleian. And lyrically, it's Artful Codger's 'Green Willow' with the floating verses shoehorned into a tale about two named lovers. So we now know that both the 'William and Pheobe' version and the cockney version survived in 20th century oral tradition. Just to confuse matters further, this version , from the Hammond collection via Butterworth, of The Nobleman's Wedding includes the 'Hat' refrain as its opening and closing verse, and has a tune related to the usual one.

Looks like 'All Around my Hat' is a 'floating chorus' - you could argue that what Steeleye Span did with it in the 1970s (grafting a dfferent set of verses onto it) was no different to what had been going on for a century and a half! From: Steve Gardham Date: 06 May 11 - 02:02 PM An 1830s sheet music cover can be viewed online in the Spellman Collection. I'm sure somebody can add a blue clicky. It purports to be the original of the Cockney burlesque. What I can make out from my own copy is:- A New comic Song as Sung by Mr. W. H. Williams At the Royal Gardens, Vauxhall, Sydney Gardens, Bath, and at the Tivoli Gardens, Margate, public festivals, &c. &c. Written by J. Hansell Esqr. The Symphonies and Accompaniments Composed, and the Melody Arranged by John Valentine. LONDON, Published by Dale, Cockerill & Co. 19, Poultry.

There is a litho of Williams in character giving his moke a drink from his tankard, the moke laden with his 'wegetables'. Dale, Cockerill and Co. according to Neighbour and Tyson, were operating c1832-7 which would fit in nicely with the Catnach broadsides. From: Marje Date: 07 May 11 - 04:41 AM As Malcolm said above, back in 02, Steeleye's version collated the Hat song with "Farewell He", which accounts for the inconsistent sentiments expressed. I once heard Martin Carthy say in an interview that he really disliked the Steeleye version for that reason. I don't have any problem with verses floating around between songs, but it does seem that in the case of the Steeleye version, the end result is a song that doesn't make much sense. The thing I dislike about it is that "umpy-pump" rhythm used at the end of the third line of each verse (for "wearing it", "I do see" etc. which really grates on my ears. But that's just me, I dare say some people love it.

"April Morning" is one of my big favourites, though, and I'm not sure I feel entirely grateful to Brian Peters for pointing out the similairy between the tunes, as I will now find I'm getting them confused. Marje All Round My Hat sheet music for Treble Clef Instrument - 8notes.com All around my hat I will wear the green willow All around my hat for a twelvemonth and a day, And if anyone should ask me the reason why I'm wearing it It's all for my true love who is far, far away Fare thee well cold winter and fare thee well cold frost Nothing have I gained but my own true love I've lost I'll sing and I'll be merry when occasion I do see He's a false deluding young man, let him go farewell he.

The other night he brought me a fine diamond ring But he thought to have deprived me of a far better thing But I being careful like lovers ought to be He's a false deluding young man, let him go farewell he Here's a half a pound of reason, and a quarter pound of sense A small sprig of time and as much of prudence You mix them all together and you will plainly see He's a false deluding young man, let him go farewell he. Recorded by Steeleye Span on All Around My Hat. Note: This hit the pop charts in England in 1975 and made the Top Five, the highest chart placing ever for a traditional song. An amalgam of Farewell He and All 'Round My Hat. It works, though.

Question: In the folk song 'All Around My Hat' what will the singer have arranged round the hat?
Answer: The GREEN WILLOW